Muay Thai Stance – Advanced Tips for a Basic Skill

The Muay Thai stance is very similar to the generic kickboxing stance. To get into the fighting stance follow these simple steps:

• Take a single step forward with your lead leg (The distance between your feet will be the same as your shoulder width).
• Point you lead foot in front of you, and your rear foot away from you at a 90 degree angle.
• Bend your knees slightly and shift your weight to your rear leg.
• For your guard, raise your arms until your fists are in line with your eyebrows.
• Pull your elbows close to your body. (You are now looking ‘through’ your guard).
• Arch your back outwards (sort of like your slouching).

You’ll notice that this stance isn’t too different from the ones you would learn in other self-defense systems. There are a couple of minor tweaks that make the Muay Thai stance unique though.

A lack of backward movement also means a lack of evasion as a whole. You’re not going to see a lot of slipping and dodging in Muay Thai, mainly because those techniques are not practiced much.

The high guard serves as an automatic shield, defending you from any on-coming attacks.

Blocking damage with your forearms is the main defensive tactic in Muay Thai. This results in three things.

One, you don’t need to think so much about defense and movement. When the high kick comes, you’re going to block it with your arm, all with minimum movement and effort.

Two, because you’re paying less attention to defense you’re putting more effort into attacking and countering.

Three, you’ll need to make sure that your arms are hardened enough to absorb all the damage coming their way. The approach isn’t perfect, but it’s very practical.

In no other martial art is the curving of the back so pronounced as in Muay Thai. Doing this makes you a smaller target.

Your guard will cover more of your torso, protecting you from body shots. The distance that your legs need to travel to check (block) kicks is also reduced.

Your body is coiled up like a spring. Once the tension is released into a strike, it is bound to be quicker and more powerful.

In general it is a good practice to curve your back somewhat. Top boxers (like Floyd Mayweather) also tend to do this.

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The fighters take the stance in anticipation of round-house kicks. The easiest way to block these kicks is by raising your leg and letting your opponent strike your shin. This is what you call ‘checking’.

Putting weight on the rear leg lets you use your front leg for defense and counter kicking. It’s also a lot easier to push kick with your front leg from this stance.

If you watch a Muay Thai fight you’ll notice a peculiar thing. Some fighters bounce… a lot. Like, totally exaggerated at times. This is normally accompanied by a slightly stupid look on the fighters face.

This is all about rhythm.

The bounce denotes the internal rhythm of the fighter. It’s to this beat that you move, attack and defend. Having a rhythm running through your body is one of the most important aspects of combat sports.

The Thai are smart people. As an incentive, traditional Muay Thai bouts are fought to old Thai music. This helps pace the fighters, as each round the tempo of the music increases.

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You can tell a lot about the quality of a fighter, by the stance he or she adopts. How they will defend, attack and move, will all be reflected in the stance